434 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



June 1. 



call attention to the fact that the observations 

 made by HerrVogel do not necessarily contradict 

 the position taken by myself and others, that 

 bees do transfer eggs from one comb to another 

 under certain conditions and stress of circum- 

 stances. 



At the time of the sending of the article 

 friend Greiner sent along two pages from the 

 Bieneyizeitung . Certain illustrations appear- 

 ing therein I have had re- engraved for our own 

 columns; and the matter directly pertaining 

 to them is translated by our Mr. W. P. Root:] 



Bees work in this respect exactly as do birds, 

 which remove from their nests the fragments 

 of their own eggshells. I took the pains to re- 

 move from the cells some eggs with a portion of 

 adhering wax. Among other things for doing 

 this, one may use a small fine penknife, without 

 danger of losing the contents of the egg. I put 

 such an egg into a cell and then put the sur- 

 rounding foundation into a colony of bees; but 

 the eggs were immediately pulled out of the 

 cell and dropped down into the hive. I then 

 putsuch an egg into an apparatus for the purpose 

 of having it hatched artificially; but never did 

 such an egg develop into a nymph. But, on 

 the other hand, when the queen deposited the 

 egg in a similar place, the larva was uniformly 

 developed. E Hence it is necessary, for the libera- 

 tion of the embryo, that the egg be fastened at 

 the lower end; for I found the emorvo in such 

 eggs, after some days, completely developed, 

 but dead. These facts speak unmistakably 

 against any transportation of eggs, by bees, 

 from cell to cell. I simply bring this matter up 

 because ar, present in foreign countries, long 

 after the matter has been settled in Germany, 

 the hue and cry has been taken up that bees 

 really do, under some circumstances, transport 

 eggs or larvae from cell to cell or from frame to 

 frame. To err is human. All reports as to the 

 carrying of eggs and larvae, emanating from 

 foreign countries, are so incomplete, and hobble 

 around so much on crutches, that their impor- 

 tance is of no consideration 



with its ray-like crown; at o, the netlike over- 

 skin, and at h the adhesive substance. 



Section of <'gg, 

 sliowing its in- 

 terior. 



Egg on the third day, 

 showing tlie em- 

 bryo. 



Appearance of a 

 fresh-laid egg. 



In Pig. 4 we have the exterior view of a bee's 

 egg, greatly magnified. Atr>i is the micropyle 



At Fig. 5 (a sectional view) we see the interi- 

 or of the egg; rt is the exterior leather skin; h 

 the envelop of the yolk; c the protoplasm; d 

 the so-called kernel, with c at the germinating- 

 point; / are minute granules surrounding the 

 germ-vesicle; g is the micropyle through which 

 passes a sperm-thread, h, into the egg, and % is 

 the sperm-duct. 



Fig. 6 shows us the interior of an egg after a 

 brooding of three days after laying. We see in 

 the egg the already developed embryo, which 

 is ready at any moment to burst and come forth 

 as a larva. We see, besides, the rudimentary 

 jaws a; the feelers at h; the upper lip at c; 

 the lower lip at c; the antennas at/; the stom- 

 ach at g; and the nervous system of the em- 

 bryo as a ventral mark at h, etc. 



[I do not remember that in any work in Eng- 

 lish this matter of the position of eggs just at 

 the time of being laid, and after being laid, 

 has been touched upon; but I am quite inclined 

 to accept the statements made. However, I do 

 not propose to stop at this point; so I will go 

 out into the apiary and take a look at some 

 combs, and see what our bees have to say on 

 the matter. 



An hour later. — As I went out into the apia- 

 ry 1 began wondering within myself why I had 

 not noticed the phenomenon above mentioned. 

 " Why, if true," I thought, " this will enable us 

 to pick out a frame of freshly laid eggs, or a 

 frame coniainiiig eggs just ready to hatch, just 

 right for queen-rearing purposes. Our apiary 

 is now rearing queens full blast." 



" Mr. SpalTord," said I, as I approached our 

 apiarist, "'show me a colony from which a queen 

 was sold out yesterday— that is, a colony that 

 has been queenless for 24 hours." 



As he opened the hive I showed him the 

 drawings above, and asked him if he had made 

 similar observations. He had not noticed 

 any particular inclination of the eggs at differ- 

 ent ages. An exarai nation of the frames 

 showed that the eggs were inclining slightly, 

 some standing parallel \o ihe sides of the cells; 

 but there was nothing very marked about the 

 angle. We next turnfd to a hive from which 

 the queen had been sold two days before. Here, 



